ALEX SALMOND was last night accused of political manipulation of Scotland’s largest commercial broadcaster after secret meetings with STV to secure favourable coverage.

Alex Salmond was last night accused of political manipulation of STV []

Questions are being asked about the First Minister’s relationship with chief executive Rob Woodward as the channel ditched popular shows – including The Bill, Midsomer Murders and Doc Martin – for Scottish content.

A Sunday Express investigation has found STV promised to work “for the benefit of the Scottish Government”, while ministers, civil servants and even a spin doctor were involved in more nationalistic programming.

The ministerial meetings came as the Glasgow-based channel tried to secure additional Government funding amid a crisis at the heart of Scottish broadcasting. Media regulator Ofcom refused to comment but did point towards regulations that state that any meddling in STV’s affairs would constitute a serious breach of broadcasting rules.

Correspondence between Mr Woodward and the First
Minister – obtained by the Scottish Sunday Express under freedom of
information laws – shows they had an “interesting and productive
dialogue” at a meeting at STV’s Pacific Quay headquarters in January
last year.

Topics discussed included STV’s “aspirations to
increase the amount of Scottish content”, as well as the broadcaster’s
commitment to a Scottish digital channel and a ‘Scottish Six’ news
bulletin, which are both key SNP aims.

The
letters and emails also reveal the channel, which posted a 55 per cent
fall in pre-tax profits on Thursday, sought to “forge a closer
partnership” between ministers and its commercial sales team.

And
in a letter to Mr Salmond on January 9, Mr Woodward also offers to
“explore how we can incorporate our innovative thinking around
television exposure for the benefit of the Government”.

The
documents were finally released to the Sunday Express last week after a
seven-month wrangle with civil servants, following a freedom of
information request in August last year. Opposition politicians last
night demanded an explanation from the First Minister about any
involvement in editorial decisions at STV, and asked if public money
was used to support the channel’s new direction.

MSP
Ted Brocklebank, Scottish Conservative spokesman on media and culture,
said: “If there is any hint that this SNP Government has been using
taxpayers’ money to try to undermine STV’s impartiality then there
needs to be an investigation.

“The Government
has a multi-million-pound advertising budget. It must be used for the
public good not party political advantage.

“We also need to know whether the SNP Government had a role in removing popular programmes, like The Bill, from our screens.

“We need to know how much editorial influence the SNP Government demanded in exchange for sponsorship and advertising.

“We
have been calling for the SNP Government to be more transparent about
how it spends taxpayers’ cash. People need to know their money is being
spent properly.”

And Liberal
Democrat culture spokesman Iain Smith said: “Independent broadcasters
aren’t there to act as PR agencies for the Government. These letters
raise serious questions for both STV and the Scottish Government.”

STV
caused consternation last year by replacing ITV network shows, such as
Miss Marple, Doc Martin, and Midsomer Murders, with home-made ‘tartan
television’ as well as repeats and cheaper imported programmes.

Three
of the new series were sponsored by the Scottish Government, including
Made In Scotland and Scotland Revealed, which was shown instead of The
Bill over a few nights last autumn.

The
taxpayer also footed the bill for sponsorship of The Greatest Scot, a
five-night special shown in the week before St Andrew’s Day, when
viewers were asked to vote for their favourite Scotsman or woman.

Alan
Clements, STV’s director of content and husband of Newsnight presenter
Kirsty Wark, even had meetings with civil servants to discuss ideas for
Homecoming projects to be shown on television.

The
documents show Rob Woodward first briefed Alex Salmond about “plans for
the future of STV” during a tour of the Glasgow studios on January 9,
2008. Two weeks later the First Minister wrote to the chief executive
to thank him for the meeting, telling Mr Woodward he “welcomes your
enthusiasm to increasing production in Scotland”.

On
December 3 the same year Mr Woodward wrote to the First Minister again,
in correspondence ahead of a debate on broadcasting at Holyrood, saying
it was “a critical time for STV”. A week later he met with then Culture
Minister Linda Fabiani over a breakfast briefing to discuss “STV’s
proposals for the future”.

Mr Woodward and the First Minister met again on January 8, 2009, with much of the discussion focused around The Homecoming.

In
a letter to Mr Salmond the following day Mr Woodward states: “I hope
you found our dialogue as interesting and productive as we did.

“STV
is committed to embracing The Homecoming this year and I am delighted
that we will be working closely with the Scottish Government on a
variety of high quality, high-profile projects which will have real
resonance with audiences throughout Scotland and will also engage the
Diaspora across the world.

“We also touched on
our aspirations to increase the amount of Scottish content on our
schedule and we will be announcing more detail on new commissions
shortly.

“I will also write separately to Linda
Fabiani to introduce our commercial director David Connolly to explore
how we can incorporate our innovative thinking around television
exposure for the benefit of the Government.”

A
follow-up letter to the First Minister on January 16 has been almost
entirely blacked out by the Scottish Government on the grounds that it
could be “commercially harmful” to STV.

However,
on January 21 the STV chief executive wrote to Ms Fabiani to say “it
was good to see you again recently with the First Minister”.

He
adds: “At our meeting I also raised the issue of how we are keen to
forge a closer partnership with the Government and our commercial sales
team.

“We’re keen to explore how we can bring
some of our innovative thinking to maximum effect by using television
and on-line to connect Government with the electorate.”

His
letter then goes on to outline four major advertising campaigns
featuring Scottish Government messages that were successful – including
Scottish themed advertising breaks to celebrate St Andrew’s Day – and
urges a meeting to find new ways to “continue to develop a progressive
relationship under the mantra of ‘everything is possible’.”

Mr
Woodward joined STV in 2006 from his previous job as Channel 4’s
commercial director. His first years in charge were marked by a massive
slump in advertising revenues. But STV said it secured 169 new
advertisers last year when it announced its interim results on
Thursday. Profits more than halved, but the channel was still
£5.5million in the black.

Last year the
Scottish Government spent more than £700,000 on television advertising,
but it is not known how much of this was with STV.

An
STV spokeswoman said: “These allegations are baseless and inaccurate
and do not reflect the facts. As a public service broadcaster, STV is
impartial and maintains a close engagement with all political parties
and their elected representatives at both Westminster and Holyrood.”

Comments Unavailable

Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article
at the moment. However, you will find some great articles
which you can comment on right now in our
Comment section.